Grade11 Physics Notes

PHYSICS 11 NOTES Significant Digits 1.All digits from 1 to 9 are significant, and 0 may or may not be significant. 2.Zeros between other digits are significant. Eg. 52.004 has 5 sd and 40.001 has 5 sd; 0.9005 has 4 sd 3.For numbers having a value greater than one, all zeros (written down) to the right of a decimal point are significant. The degree of accuracy is indicated by these zeros. They should not be appended (written down) unless they are significant. Eg. 3.6 has 2 sd, 3.60 has 3 sd, 3.600 has 4 sd, 3.00600 has 6 sd 4.For numbers having a value less than one, all zeros to the right of the decimal point but preceding a non-zero digit are not significant. All zeros (written down) to the right of the last non-zero digit are significant. Eg. 0.0056 has 2 sd, 0.0307 has 3 sd, 0.0020 has 2 sd, 0.00030700 has 5 sd 5.All zeros between the decimal point (if written down) and the first non-zero digit to the left of the decimal point are significant. Eg. 67000 has 5 sd, 7020000 has 7 sd 6.If the decimal point is not written, the zeros to the right of the last non-zero digit are not significant unless otherwise stated. Eg. 67000 has 2sd, 100 has 1 sd, 600 (2 sd) has 2sd, 600 (3sd) has 3 sd 7.In scientific notation, the quantity is written in the form M x 10n where 1 ≤ M